Brown Law Blog

Adnan Syed Updates

February 18, 2020 The past year was a disappointing stretch for Adnan Syed. The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, reversed the granting of a new trial and reinstated Syed’s conviction. Our appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. But this does not mean we have given up. There are multiple legal…

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Syed Files Appellate Brief

Adnan Syed today filed his “Brief of Appellee/Cross-Appellant” with the Court of Special Appeals. To recap, on June 30, 2016, the Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Syed’s conviction and granted him a new trial. The Baltimore City Circuit Court found that Syed’s trial counsel had been constitutionally ineffective, in violation of the Sixth Amendment, at Syed’s original…

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Court Denies Syed’s Bail Motion

The Circuit Court for Baltimore City has denied Adnan Syed’s Motion for Release Pending Appeal. Judge Welch denied the Motion, in large part, because of the open status of the case in the appeals court. (The State is attempting to appeal Judge Welch’s Order vacating Syed’s conviction and granting a new trial; multiple applications for leave…

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New Filing: Syed’s Reply in Support of Release

Adnan Syed today filed a Reply in support of his Motion seeking pretrial release. Syed seeks pretrial release following the Circuit Court’s Order vacating his conviction and ordering a new trial. The State opposed Syed’s Motion in a filing last week, and this is Syed’s Reply to the arguments raised by the State. To read…

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Syed’s New Filings: Retry Case

Adnan Syed responded today to the State’s recent filings in which the State seeks (1) an appeal of Judge Welch’s order granting a new trial; and (2) a remand of the case back to the circuit court so the State can introduce the testimony of two impeachment witnesses. Syed’s filings urge the Court of Special Appeals to…

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Syed files Conditional Cross Appeal

Syed today filed his conditional application for leave to cross appeal. Essentially, we are asking the Court of Special Appeals that, if it hears the State’s appeal of Judge Welch’s Order, we also want to appeal. The state wants to appeal the cell tower issue, upon which the new trial was granted, and we would want to…

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Hogan Lovells to Join Syed Defense Team!

Brown & Nieto is happy to announce that Hogan Lovells will join the Adnan Syed defense team as pro bono co-counsel. Hogan Lovells is a fantastic international firm with great lawyers and deep resources. They are one of the best large firms in the country, and they have deep ties to Baltimore. They are also experienced in innocence…

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Syed Files Post-Hearing Motion to Supplement Record

Petitioner Adnan Syed filed a post-hearing Motion today to supplement the post-conviction record with two letters that were sent to the Court. One letter was sent by the State; the other was sent by University of Maryland Law School professor Michael Millemann. Here is the filing, with letters attached, by link: FILING and embedded: https://cjbrownlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FILING.pdf…

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Sitting With Adnan

I recently spent the better part of five days sitting next to Adnan Syed. I had known him for about seven years, but this was the most time we had ever spent together. He was shackled in a four-point restraint so he could barely move. It must have been very uncomfortable. If it had been…

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Adnan Syed Press Conference

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Final (?) Scheduling Order for Syed

Here is the Court’s latest Scheduling Order with the new dates of Feb. 3, 4 & 5 for the Adnan Syed post-conviction hearing: Syed cheduling Order 01-15-16….

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Can Syed’s hearing be broadcast?

We have received many inquiries about whether Adnan Syed’s re-opened post-conviction hearing — currently scheduled for Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 — will be televised or broadcast in any form. Initially we were dismissive of the possibility. Now we’re not so sure. Maryland has a law that prohibits the broadcast of criminal proceedings. The statute,…

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Court Dates Set For Syed Hearing

The Baltimore City Circuit Court has issued a scheduling order setting the dates for Adnan Syed’s re-opened post-conviction proceedings. Here is the Order: Welch scheduling Order…

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Baltimore City Jail: Worse Than Ever

More than two years have passed since federal prosecutors handed down a massive indictment charging gang members and correctional officers with operating a drug conspiracy inside the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC). The story gained national media attention and the U.S. Attorney’s Office trumpeted its success in getting convictions of all but a few of…

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Firm Wins 97-month Sentence Reduction

The Law Office of C. Justin Brown this week obtained a sentence reduction of 97 months for a federal inmate. Sentence reductions of this magnitude are rarely seen in federal court. The client was convicted on drug charges in 2007 following a four-day jury trial. He was sentenced to 240 months (20 years) in prison….

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Appeals Court’s Order / Remand

Here is today’s Order from the Court of Special Appeals in the Syed case: Remand Order…

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Syed Oral Arguments FAQs

Oral arguments in the Syed case are set for the morning of June 9. I have been receiving a lot of questions about how the appeal will proceed. Here are the answers, as best as I can give: Q: Is the hearing open to the public? A: Yes. However, there is limited seating capacity. As…

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Syed: Against All Odds

We recently came across some statistics regarding how frequently the Maryland Court of Special Appeals grants an Application for Leave to Appeal (ALA). As you recall, Adnan Syed, after losing his post-conviction proceeding, filed an ALA. Essentially, in the ALA, Syed asked the Court for permission to file an appeal. This was necessary because a…

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